


A tale of Two Sisters

by Annasanvk



Category: InuYasha - A Feudal Fairy Tale
Genre: F/M, Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-29
Updated: 2019-06-28
Packaged: 2019-07-04 03:40:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 19,462
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15833022
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Annasanvk/pseuds/Annasanvk
Summary: Her first name meant one thousands of springs, and Chiharu Higurashi liked the spring. She was born on the fifteenth of March 1982, three hours after her older twin sister. They looked almost identical, yet no one ever mistook Chiharu for Kagome. When Kagome was pulled into the well by Mistress Centipede, Chiharu jumps after her. It wasn't one of her wisest decisions





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: Hello there!
> 
> This is my first story on Archiveofourown.com^^. Perhaps some people might know a Tale of two sisters from my other account on fan fiction.net, but for those of you who don't, I hope you'll enjoy this story. A tale of two sisters is my baby and I try hard to keep the grammatical errors and typo's to a minimum. Even so, I do miss them ever so often (no matter in what language I write). If you notice anything that seems wrong, please let me know. Your help, comments and support is really appreciated:).
> 
> Inuyasha and all of its characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi.
> 
> Note: This is a Sesshomaru/OC story. I'll try to keep the characters as true to their manga selves as I can, so I hope you'll enjoy!

Prologue

The moon stood high on the zenith; pale light filtering in through the thick canopy of leaves, scattering down on the forest floor. Chiharu Higurashi ran her fingers through her dark hair, before nervously fiddling with the long sleeve of her garb as she followed the heavy aura from deep within the woods. Dark shapes took form in the far distance and Chiharu squinted her eyes, which were slowly adjusting to the grey-green darkness. Her sister and her odd friend were there, swaying as if some sort of spell was corrupting them and a woman with long sleek hair was running her fingers through Inuyasha's hair. 

Chiharu's sister, Kagome had fallen on her side and a large bulky Yōkai, with the built and height of a flat stretched out above the trees, looking down upon her with an expressionless face. For everyone, Kagome Higurashi seemed to be asleep, but at least she was unharmed and Chiharu stood rooted to the spot, peering through the dappled gaps in the evergreen leaf cover of a bush. Almost all light had disappeared in an instant, and a strange silence pressed down onto them. Chiharu touched her hand to one ear, in case it was blocked by something physical.

It wasn't...

Shaking her head, she carefully crossed the clearing, trying to remain in the shadows of the trees. With fear to give her speed, she ran along the narrow trail settled beside a tree. The tall yōkai that had towered above them mere minutes ago had disappeared and the odd pressure made her movements slow and sluggish. Chiharu stopped in sight of her older sister and carefully inched to her fallen form, but before she'd reached her, her eyes widened. The beautiful woman, who had cradled Inuyasha's sleeping form to her chest before had turned monstrous, without a face and her chest had opened as a black hole, trying to absorb the comatose Hanyō. 

The thought that a faceless being could do that, even without much of an aura, filled her with a clamming sort of fear and Chiharu fought to ready an arrow on her bow. Squeezing one eye shut, she aimed at the lady’s head, letting the arrow fly. It fizzled, cutting through the air, before lodging deeply into the shoulder of the female Yōkai. Inuyasha fell to the forest floor with a groan and as the yōkai slowly started to crumble, the silence pressing down onto her lifted. Stiffly, Chiharu crept up from her hiding-place and tip-toed towards her sister. 

“What was that?” Chiharu whispered urgently, quickly pulling her sister up into a sitting position. “Are you okay?” 

“Chiharu-san.” Myoga the flea whispered and she glanced down at Kagome’s leg where he was sitting. “That’s a Mu-onna.” 

“Ah what?” Kagome asked heaving slightly. Her cheeks were dusted a deep red and her eyes wide with horrified fear. "I-, Chiharu-chan?" 

"You're okay." Chiharu answered unhelpfully and Kagome stared at Inuyasha's unmoving form with a deep frown. 

Chiharu moved back slightly when Kagome crawling onto hands and knees towards the fallen Hanyō (“Inuyasha?”), and Myōga the flea hopped onto her knee. The constant motions of the tree-tops and the returning of the brilliance of the moon painted clouds in the dark sky calmed her a little. 

"So, what was that again?" Chiharu asked again, ignoring her sister as she fussed over the white-haired Hanyō. Inuyasha was seated up again and didn't seem to appreciate people ruffling his feathers.

“A Mu-onna. They're cursed spirits, created specifically when a mother, ningen or yōkai, die in the process of failing her child. Either in sickness or when violated, but ultimately leading to its death.”

“Okay?”

“When a mother dies under those circumstances, her soul gets stuck with an obsessive desire to save her lost child and is drawn to children suffering from dire predicaments. However, the Mu-onna cannot help those children and will only drive them further into suffering, ultimately killing them…” the flea explained, before gasping and jumping away. Chiharu thought he was not very helpful, but a second later someone grasped at the collar of her haori, hoisting her up to her feet. Her hands automatically flew to where the hand was fisted into her clothes and tried to dislodge it while frantically glancing around.

She recognised him immediately. He was the same Yōkai she had seen only a few hours ago. His Youki was far more suffocating than she had originally thought and she glanced up at him, with wide eyes. Why he wasn’t restraining his youki to keep others from being alerted to his presence?

Finally, Sesshōmaru’s eyes rested on the miko. His eyes widened only a fraction in recognition; “You…”

“Let her go, you Bastard!” Inuyasha snapped glancing at the remains of the woman Chiharu had shot and then at the tall man.

“She belongs to you, should have known…”

“I don’t belong to him,” Chiharu muttered carefully loosening her obi. She could fully loosen it and then jump out of her outer haori, effectively freeing herself if he tried to hurt her. 

His smile was feral. “Aren’t you?”

Inuyasha snarled, pushing Kagome away from him and charged at them, but Sesshōmaru just dodged the angry Hanyō and took to the air. Chiharu gasped, tightening her obi immediately as the ground disappeared from under her. Both of her hands renewed their grip on his wrist and tightened when the ground moved further and further away from under her. She yelped when he shook her unnecessarily.

“Inuyasha, my sister!”

“I know wench,” Inuyasha snarled back and charged again. 

Her sandal fell off of Chiharu’s feet when the older man dodged his opponent again and with a flick of his wrist, Inuyasha tumbled to the forest-floor, sending a plume of dry mud skywards. Dark blood oozed from his right eye and Chiharu gasped, watching with growing horror as Inuyasha pressed the palm of his hand against his eye. She tried to crane her neck, internally debating if hitting him with her bow would distract him enough to get away, but her feet were still dangling above the forest-floor. The hand that held his wrist in a death-grip tightened even more. They were too high for her to catch herself without breaking something. Too high up for her to fall to the ground and remain unhurt. It was a very bad plan.

Chiharu watched Kagome crouch down next to Inuyasha and almost whimpered when she felt Sesshōmaru’s talons graze the delicate skin of her back. Ignoring the shiver that ran down her spine, she dared a glance at him. He was observing a tiny black orb between the index finger and the thump of his left hand. Blood coated those same fingers and Chiharu felt the nausea roll through her in waves. “Chich-ue certainly hid the tomb in a strange place,” he whispered as Inuyasha moaned, pressing his hand against the heavily bleeding eye. 

“You bastard!” Inuyasha snapped, unsteadily getting to his feet. 

“Uh uh,” Sesshōmaru whispered pressing sharp claws into the delicate skin of Chiharu’s neck. “Your female won’t like what I’ll do, if you waste my time any further.”

“Inuyasha!” Kagome wailed and Chiharu tried to finally control her jagged nerves, craning her neck away from the sting his claws gave when they dug into her flesh. She felt her feet touch the ground again and she released a small puff of breath.

“Keh,” Inuyasha snarled. “She isn’t my female, I do not care if you would hurt her.”

“Don’t you?” the Yōkai whispered, sniffing at Chiharu as if he smelled something bad. “Than tell me, little brother, why is your stench all over her?” 

‘Little brother?’

“Sesshōmaru-sama!” a vaguely familiar voice called, and Chiharu noticed the small imp-Yōkai appear out of the tall grass. “I have retrieved the Nintoujou,” he continued, showing off a tall staff with two heads to his master. 

The pressure of his claws slowly fell away and Sesshōmaru glanced at his servant. His expression almost bored and the small imp shivered. “Lose it again and I’ll kill you.” His master whispered, before yanking the staff out of Jaken’s claw and smashed, what appeared to be a pearl under it.

The face of the old man cackled. It didn’t mean anything to Chiharu, she was already glad she was still in one piece, but the imp-Yōkai looked absolutely joyous. A darkish light appeared, which not even the pale light of the moon could penetrate. It seemed to suck them down through the grass and Chiharu yelped when the world rushed by in a blur. 

They were air-born again. Chiharu yelled and Sesshōmaru wrapped a strong arm around her waist, which did barely still the raging nerves. They soared downward at a speed that constricted her throat so that she could hardly draw a breath. Chiharu watched as the darkness disappeared and then the bright blue sky appeared, which couldn’t be anything else than an illusion. Skeletal birds flew through the sky and the silver-haired Yōkai moved them towards the largest remains she had ever seen in her life. It was an enormous dog-like skeleton with armor on the shoulders and on the chest. He entered through a gap in the armor, passing between two ribs and dropped to the ground gracefully. 

It smelled strange. Chiharu sniffed around with a deep frown and decided that this must be the scent of dead foliage. Animal carcasses and even human bones lay scattered on the intracranial bone. He dropped her as if she’d burned him and she quickly crawled away, pressing her back against the frontal bone and waited for the Yōkai to do whatever he came for. 

Jaken’s bulbous yellow eyes glowered at her, and he swiftly scurried towards the side as well, as Sesshōmaru stepped towards a crappy looking sword. 

“All of this, for that?” Chiharu muttered, glancing at Jaken with furrowed eyebrows. He was looking around in wonder as well. “For a Katana…”

“That’s not just a Katana,” Jaken told her importantly, probably forgetting his hostility against her. “That is the sword forged from Sesshōmaru-sama’s father’s fang.” 

“I see,” Chiharu mumbled, watching as Sesshōmaru grabbed the handle of the sword. He was repelled almost instantly and Chiharu smiled smugly to herself when he hissed. 

“A Kekkai,” Sesshōmaru muttered. “Figures, there’s a Kekkai on it.”

Chiharu pursed her lips. The sword had a Kekkai on it, yet it looked all but worthless.

“Sesshōmaru!” 

The Daiyōkai turned around almost lazily. Inuyasha jumped down from the protruding collarbone, leaving Kagome on one of the ribs. Inuyasha charged at his older brother, claws at the ready and again Sesshōmaru dodged the Hanyō easily. He appeared on the other side with a pulse of Youki and laughed openly at Inuyasha’s shocked face. Inuyasha’s right eye was still closed and swollen, but his left eye was alit with pure anger.

“Draw the sword, Inuyasha-sama!” Myoga-jiji yelled, but Inuyasha was already charging at his older brother.

“I’m not interested in some worn-out old word…”

Chiharu watched the two demons fight while Myoga-jiji told the Hanyō, over and over, to draw the sword, which he couldn’t either. Sesshōmaru’s attitude was cutting and superior, baiting the younger demon out of a sense of boredom, mixed with hatred. Chiharu wasn’t sure what had happened between the two of them but the hatred between the two seemed hardly natural. She couldn’t imagine hating her own sibling so much as both siblings seemed to hate each other.Chiharu cocked her head to the side. The older Yōkai was gorgeous, there was no denying that he was, in fact, well-built and easily capable of inducing dreamy eyes of females (her included), but he was also impossibly arrogant, cold and downright nasty. He taunted the younger demon with a smirk, a smirk that broadened when Inuyasha wasn’t able to draw the sword either. She would be honest, at least to herself, the superiority was well-deserved, but the arrogance… He was better though; his fighting skills stronger and faster. 

“Let me assist you, Sesshōmaru-sama!” the Kappa exclaimed, swirling his staff through his claws. Chiharu snorted, before slamming her bow against his staff, his claws loosening around the wood and it fell against the bones with a hollow clunk. 

“I don’t think so, little goblin.” She snapped, using her bow as leverage to pull him away. 

Kagome jumped down next to them; “We have to do something!”

“What do you want, he can summon and hide his youki at will?” Chiharu asked angrily. 

“But you know how to shoot, don’t you?” Her older sister demanded, picking the fallen staff off the floor and held it in front of her as a shield. 

“Yes…” Chiharu muttered, “But he goes so fast…”

Just then Sesshōmaru slammed Inuyasha down into the ground and cracked his claw above his head. “Dissolve,” he whispered threateningly and Kagome let the staff drop from her fingers.

“INUYASHA!”

Tripping over the skulls, Kagome fell forward grappling at the sword for support, which moved with her until it slipped from the stone. Both Yōkai stilled into their attack and glanced at Chiharu’s older sister with a mix of shock and surprise.

“Uh,” the schoolgirl mumbled. “I’m sorry? It slipped…”

“Slipped?” Chiharu muttered back, closing in on her sister and pulling her away from the pedestal and to the side. Sesshōmaru stared at them, or more accurately at Kagome and a moment later he appeared right in front of them. Kagome squealed, her fingers digging into Chiharu’s shoulders when she hid behind her younger sister. 

“How is it that a mere human can draw out Tetsusaiga, while this Sesshōmaru can’t?”

“Perhaps the Kekkai only works against Demons?” Chiharu mumbled sarcastically.

He looked at Chiharu as if he barely believed she could speak, before raising an imperious eyebrow. Kagome pushed the hilt of the sword into her hands and carefully peeked over Chiharu’s shoulder. “If that’s the case then logic dictates you should hold it now.”

“I didn’t know you wanted to get rid of me that badly.”

“Then do something!” Kagome whispered back and Sesshōmaru bared his fangs. 

“Sesshōmaru!” Inuyasha snarled, slowly straightening himself. “Leave them alone, they’ve got nothing to do with this.”

“I disagree,” the Daiyōkai whispered, and Chiharu felt something cold run through her. She swirled around as fast as she could and stared at her sister with wide eyes.

“Run!”

She didn’t have to be told twice, and the both of them bolted. Sesshōmaru dodged his half-brother again with an annoyed grunt and gave an annoyed look towards Chiharu.

“What am I supposed to do with this.” She muttered, glancing at the katana in her hand. What was Kagome thinking, pushing it in her hands to even begin with? Whenever there were problems, Chiharu was supposed to fix them (unless they had to do with Sōta, she insisted to be the big sister with him). That was their dynamic. When panic struck, Chiharu took charge.

Kagome was hyperventilating on the other side of the room, Jaken’s staff clutched between her fingers again and was glancing up at Inuyasha, almost beaming. “I believe in you.” She told him positively. 

“Aren’t you a little too optimistic?” Inuyasha muttered back, trying again to slash at his brother. The full blooded yōkai dodged the younger boy easily and took to the air.

He glanced Chiharu’s way again and she just knew the Full-demon would come after her (again) — after all, she was holding that stupid sword —, and she hurled the sword through the clearing. “Fetch boy!”

Whoever fetched it she didn’t care. Jaken poked a clawed finger against her clad leg and both brothers glared at her as the sword clanged down against skulls and bones. Inuyasha picked it up, holding it against the light as if to examine it. 

“Keh, it looks like a piece of junk.” 

“Who cares?” Chiharu yelled. “Why not using it to get out of here?”

The Daiyōkai glared at her and she heard Jaken chuckle. Warning bells went off in Chiharu’s head, and she became uncharacteristically unnerved. Slowly, ever so slowly, she pulled an arrow free — her last one — and held it close to her bow.  
Her heart picked up its pace, hammering under her ribs and her breath hitched when he moved to her. She drew her bow tight and released the arrow. He didn’t even bother to dodge it, instead, he caught it in mid-air in his left hand and snapped it in two.

“Great idea!” Chiharu muttered, an edge of hysterics pulling at the edges of her mind. “He just caught the arrow in mid-air, thank you Kagome-neechan. Great idea!” 

“Leave her alone!” Inuyasha yelled, and Kagome squealed when Inuyasha crushed the armour covering Sesshōmaru’s left shoulder with his claw. The sword remained useless. It just bounced off against Sesshōmaru’s arm, and the older Yōkai sneered. 

“Tetsusaiga,” he whispered his right-hand curling into a fist. “Give it to me, Inuyasha.”

“Like hell, you bastard, you cannot even touch it!” 

His face seemed amused, and then he twisted around, appearing in front of her. Chiharu yelped, her heart thudded, her mouth sandpaper-dry and her mind a choppy sea of fears. Sesshōmaru slapped the bow out of her hand, snapping it in two as well. She was terrified when he twirled her around pressing her back against his front and dug his left hand into her hair, craning her neck painfully. “Last chance, little brother.”

“You wouldn’t!” Inuyasha hissed with certainty.

And Chiharu inhaled a shaky breath. She wondered how stupid you could be; challenging the man who was holding her captive. Warm breath fanned over the sensitive skin of her neck and Chiharu slowly started to wriggle into his grip trying to pull herself free. 

“Inuyasha-Sama!” Myoga the flea cried and Chiharu felt the beginnings of true fear gripping at her heart. 

“This one wants the sword.” The Daiyōkai whispered, warm breath ghosting over her earlobe and her neck. 

“Well, you can’t get it, you bastard!” Inuyasha cried, again trying to take his older brother down, but Sesshōmaru dragged Chiharu away from him and took to the air again, landing onto one of the ribs. Her feet slipped off of the rib, and the Daiyōkai chuckled when the Hanyō slammed into the carcass-filled floor. 

“Your choice…” he muttered, before yanking at her hair, baring even more from her neck. Chiharu’s scream died in her throat as his fangs sank into the pale unyielding flesh of her throat. She trashed against his form, his left arm winding around her waist, keeping her from falling. Her breathing laboured and her eyes rolled back into her head. She heard someone scream and the Hanyō cursed foully.

Her neck started to feel numb and her heartbeat had ceased its rapid rhythm. If anything it started to slow down and Chiharu tried to keep her eyes open, even if it was just a little. She could faintly feel the steady beat of Sesshōmaru’s heart (if her head had been any clearer she would have been surprised he even had one).

“Stop!” she whispered weakly, only half aware that the air whisked past her. “P-please stop! You’re going to… kill me!” He disengaged his fangs and loosened his hand onto her hair. 

Inuyasha screamed, his voice sending vibrations through the large carcass and Chiharu tried to grasp at her injured neck. 

He dropped her. He must have because she fell down onto the bones and her body became limp. An animalistic growl erupted and she glanced at the fight between the two brothers, through heavy-lidded eyes. Her neck ached and a fire burned through her veins like an unknown poison. Her legs started to jerk and her fingers curled into tight fists. 

“Why?”

“You needed to learn your place.” she heard the Daiyōkai tell his younger brother smugly. 

“She’s human!”

“Myoga-jiji?” Kagome’s voice whispered and Chiharu felt a hand press against her neck. 

“Not good, not good at all!” the flea whispered, muttering instruction of how to stop the heavy blood flow. Chiharu knew she was going to pass out when her stomach turned and cold sweat appeared on her back and her forehead. She felt sick and nausea crept from her abdomen to her head while the world went black. 

To be continued...


	2. In the Well

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 'In the garden of memory, in the palace of dreams… that is where you and I shall meet.’ — Alice Through the Looking Glass

Chapter one, In the Well

The early morning light strained through the leaves of the large Go-Shin-Boku in front of Chiharu’s bedroom, creating a scattered pattern of light on the faded green carpet. She stood in front of her vanity — an item she’d wanted when she was six — and scraped a brush through her long dark hair. 

The yellow alarm clock on her nightstand was ticking merrily and the lightbulb above her head was softly buzzing as if it was complaining about its use. Chewing on the inside of her cheek, the young girl glanced at an old photograph of a large sakura tree, taken during spring years ago. She caught the old birthday card the picture was attached to. She loved the spring. When she had been no more than a child she loved to accompany her mother to Hanami parties, viewing the blossoms open to the sun. Her favourite spot was in Sumida Park, at the waterline. She loved the sweet scent of sakura blossoms clouding her senses. Enjoyed catching the petals, especially when she was still a child. But that had changed a long time ago. She stopped visiting the Sumida park during May when her father died. 

Chiharu Higurashi massaged the bridge of her nose, before folding her birthday card back up and placed it in the top drawer of her desk. She absentmindedly glanced at the faded scars on her hands. They were a reminder of that day, and although they had faded, they would never truly go away.

“Chiharu?” a voice behind her door yelled. “Are you ready?”

“One more minute!” she yelled back, straightening her green school-skirt and tied her red scarf around her neck.

Today she’d turned fifteen years old.

Chiharu smoothed down the front of her skirt and stepped out of her bedroom. Kagome Higurashi, her older twin-sister by three hours, was leaning against the wall. Her dark hair fell messily around her face and her skirt was at least an inch too short. 

“Don’t judge, I’m seeing Hojo today,” Kagome told her younger sister matter-of-factly when she noticed the disapproval in Chiharu’s face.

“Right, and he’s seeing your legs, I assume?”

Crossing her arms over her stomach, automatically pushing her breasts up — which Chiharu envied her sister for — Kagome glared. “You’re not funny…”

“I didn’t try to be.” 

“Girls, you’re going to be late if you don’t get going.” Their mother’s voice retorted when the two girls descended the stairs and passed the kitchen.

“Hai Mama!” Kagome called back. 

“Mama, can I take your bike?” Chiharu asked, walking into the kitchen. The tile floor was gleaming brightly in the morning sunlight. Her mother was leaning her elbows on the counter slowly placing the freshly cleaned plates in the drainer and looked up with a small frown. 

“My bike?” She asked and Chiharu smiled guiltily at her mother when she pursed her lips. “All right, but if you break this one as well, you’ll walk the rest of the year.” She told her, yet no real threat in her voice. 

“Hai, mama!” Chiharu grinned, before waving at her grandfather. “See you tonight Jii-chan! I do expect a birthday dinner, you know?” 

Her grandfather smiled and nodded slowly. Chiharu shook her head before going outside. Kagome was waiting for her. Chiharu and Kagome were identical twins. They had the same shaped face, the same lips, but Kagome’s body developed faster. Or at least that was what Chiharu hoped. Kagome’s hair was unruly at the best of days, while Chiharu’s hair was long and straight. But the clearest difference was their eyes. Kagome’s eyes were blue, while her eyes both had a different colour; heterochromia iridum. One was blue and the other was brown, an easy characteristic to keep the girls apart.

“Birthday dinner?” 

“That would be nice, wouldn’t it?”

“If mama cooks, yes, but if Jiji does, he’ll probably just cook the Kappa’s hand,” Kagome muttered and Chiharu chuckled.

“Nee-chan?” 

“What now?” Kagome muttered, before glancing towards their younger brother; Sōta Higurashi. He was standing next to the old family shrine. Kagome’s eyes narrowed and she all but stomped towards him hand clasped tightly around her backpack. 

“You know you shouldn’t play in the shrine, Sōta.” She admonished sternly and the boy wrung his hands together.

“I know— But Buyo, he’s inside.”

“The cat?” Chiharu asked. “How did our cat get inside, I thought we always kept the door locked?”

“The door was open.” The boy muttered, he was only ten after all and Chiharu shook her head when he slowly— obviously afraid— trekked into the shrine. The old wooden floorboard creaked loudly under his weight and he trembled. “I think Buyo is down there.”

“Then why don’t you go and get him?” Kagome asked.

Sōta shook his head resolutely, glaring at a cobweb on the railing. “No way, this place feels kinda creepy.”

“Are you scared?” Kagome asked, crouching down next to her little brother. Chihara leaned against the doorsill. “Aren’t you supposed to be a man?”

“Onee-chan…”

“Yeah, okay,” she muttered. A strange sound came from the bottom of the shrine somewhere around the old well which was located in the centre.

“Something is there,” he muttered, before hiding behind Chiharu.

“Just go on,” she told her younger brother. “We’ll get the cat, you should run, else you miss the bus.” He didn’t have to be told twice. Sōta nodded vigorously before turning the corner and ran out of sight. 

Kagome’s chin jutted forward. “Unbelievable, he plays the vilest sort of video games and yet, he doesn’t dare to go into the shrine alone.”

Chiharu shrugged. “You act like that surprises you.” She took a couple of steps forward into the shrine. The wood complaining loudly under her feet and Chiharu nervously bit her lip. “Is the cat really down there?”

“Don’t you start too,” Kagome muttered before moving down the stairs. “What else should be down there?”

“Onee-san?” Chiharu asked tentatively while pushing her dark hair out of her eyes. Her older sister was silently standing next to the well and Chiharu raised an eyebrow. “Have you located Buyo already?”

“No,” Kagome muttered, “You could come downstairs and help me.”

“Fine,” Chiharu muttered, tentatively descending the old creaky stairs as well. 

It was sudden. The only warning Chihara got, was a strange feeling followed by a harsh breaking sound before a large female, looking more like a centipede, burst out of the enshrined Bone Eater’s well, dragging Kagome into it. Her scream never left her lips and as Kagome disappeared out of sight, a purple hue engulfed her and Chiharu stood rooted to the spot. 

She waited a few seconds before moving forward. Her hands firmly gripped onto the well and she screamed: “Kagome!” 

As she looked over the ledge and squinted through the darkness Chiharu waited for her older sister to react. Waited for her to groan and mumble. She didn’t and she didn’t see her at the bottom of the well either. 

“Kagome-onee-chan?” Chiharu tried again, but the only sound that greeted her were the faint sounds of cars, busses and people from the street. She was gone and she felt her face pale even more. How was this even possible?

“How?” she whispered still not seeing her older sister, nor the weird centipede-woman. Disappeared in thin air and, it was strange, but it was almost as if the well was beckoning her. Inhaling sharply, she bunched up the sleeves of her blouse and dropped her backpack onto the dusty floorboard. While exhaling, she threw a leg over the ledge and sat nervously onto the wooden ledge. 

“This is a bad idea.” She murmured. “This is such a bad idea.”

She kicked off, dropping down and just as she was about to squeeze her eyes shut, she was developed into a haze of brilliant purple light. Chiharu landed feet first with a small yelp. A tremor ran through her legs and she slumped to her knees. The dirt beneath her felt solid and the walls around her covered in dirt. She waited a moment, breathing in harshly and blinked repeatedly. She had just dissolved in a burst of light in a free fall and she was all right.  
Dusting her skirt off she glanced around the dark confines of the well. There was no trace of Kagome, but lumps of flesh and bone surrounded her. She shuddered, slowly getting up to her feet and looked up the dark shaft, and up into the round eye of the sky above her. Her eyebrows furrowed, she wasn’t supposed to see the sky. It wasn’t supposed to show the sky, and she blinked against the harsh contrast of the stark blue sky to the darkness from the well.

Glancing down at the lumps of flesh onto the soil and she grimaced. That same strange feeling settled into her gut. Swallowing, she felt for a leverage and started to climb. Above her, she heard the birds chirp and the wind whispered through the leaves. With some difficulty she heaved herself over the lip of the well and heaved, waiting for her breath to return.

She was in a clearing, surrounded by large trees, instead of the well-house in their backyard, and the only thing that reminded her of her own home was the large Go-Shin-Boku tree, throwing a large shadow over her. Long grass tickled her calves and she had to forcefully keep her breathing even. 

“Where am I?” she whispered to herself while glancing around. 

There was no trace of Kagome. 

Chiharu slowly ventured away from the well, silently moving through the bushes and the trees while trying to find her older sister. Bunching up the sleeves of her blouse, she trekked further into the woods. She had no idea she was only moving further away from the Bone-Eaters-Well and therefore further away from her lost and wandering older sister. 

I-I. ⌡. Γ┐

A week had passed. Days, hours and seconds she couldn’t precisely count had passed and Chiharu had no idea where she was. She had never been this lost before. She whimpered, slowly approaching the small stream-fed pond. The rivers were deceptive, lying across the lands in smooth curves, beautiful in the morning light. She tried washing her face, wincing, when the cold water dripped down her cheeks and chin. Even in March — was it March in here — the water was icy.Holding her balance with one hand on the mossy shallow bank she stared at her reflection. She had been lost before. Years ago, when she had been seven years old, she’d gotten lost in the city. That had been nothing compared to now. She had no idea where to go now, and she couldn’t seem to find anything to orientate herself on. She sighed softly, her fingers trailing circles over her slightly swollen ankle. She glanced at the morphed reflection in the water below her. Her cheeks were dirty and her school-uniform was torn at several places. Her knees were capped and altogether, she looked very tired. Chiharu had been on the run for at least a week. She had no idea what this place was. It seemed like a dream, yet she never woke up from it. She felt pain when she fell down a slope and almost drowned when swallowed too much water in the lake that had caught her. She had travelled through a forest and two villages with people who had been hostile at best and had coughed herself hoarse, when trying to clean herself in a river at least four times. Nothing of which normally happened in dreams. 

“Why am I here?” she whispered. The water surface was livened briefly by the crescents of white from the scales of a fish. She followed it down the stream and dipped her fingers just below the surface. 

If she had to guess, she’d estimated they were in the Sengoku period. Which was weird enough, but she had never thought about the possibility of Yōkai existing. Whenever her Grandfather told about them, she'd just smiled, yet she had been attacked by demons. She had been attacked by demons, humans and wild animals more times than she cared to admit. She had nearly been killed more than once. She bit onto her lower lip when she felt the now familiar tingle run up her spine, the feeling that always assaulted her when a Yōkai was close. She scrambled away from the spring and pressed her back against the rough bark of a tree. Thankfully whatever it was, passed by without a hitch. 

She’d produced sparks of power she didn't understand two or three days ago, venting off a dangerous attack. They were helpful, yet, she wondered if these came from passing through the well, or if they'd been there since she was small. She hadn’t thought about it at first when she thought her surroundings were just forged by her imagination. Her own twisted version of Alice in Wonderland. It was somewhat the same, falling down a hole and stepping out into a whole other world, yet she hadn’t found the Cheshire Cat, the Duchess or the Mad Hatter.  
Glancing at the marsh plants on the banks, wilted and weak, the leaves yellowed at the edges, she exhaled loudly. She recalled vaguely that she’d seen these powers before when she was little, but then again she did believe she could turn into a cat as well, so perhaps her childhood memories of that time were not all that accurate. 

Chiharu was not entirely new to the stories and fables her grandfather always told the tourists and used to tell her and her sister several times before they would go to sleep. He told them about the legends of Yōkai and a special magical jewel. Told them about the Houshi’s and Miko’s who exhibited supernatural qualities and could protect the humans against the monsters, but till a week ago, she’d always been dismissive about the notion of having spiritual powers or the chance that Yōkai really existed. Thereby, it weren’t the yōkai who’d attacked her the most.

In the distance, she heard the sound of the hustle and bustle of a village and Chiharu exhaled softly. She was in dire need of supplies. Especially of clothes, because these were rather tattered and they were highly inappropriate for this time. Chiharu estimated she was in the Sengoku period. The reason: she was pretty sure she’d heard the name Oda Nobunaga at least once on her travels, and he lived during the Sengoku period. Considering that there was no political structure what so ever and the near constant military conflicts she’d seen, she suspected she was stranded mid or even at the end of the sixteenth century. 

Engrossed in her thoughts she followed the sound of people — if they were soldiers again, she would leave immediately — she limped tiredly closer. The road was strangely straight yet without the tarmac asphalt. She hadn’t thought she would ever miss the cars speeding over the hard asphalt, headlights reflected off the puddles and the street lamps high in the berm.   
It began raining and, even without actual cars and the buses, the traffic was chaotic. All kind of carriages and carts were being pulled by horses and people were carrying heavy loads of rice. Chiharu’s brows furrowed together. She’d never seen so many horses all at once. She pressed herself to the rough bark of the tree surveying her surroundings. Her school uniform, ripped and tattered, would stand out to all of them and she exhaled sharply.

Slowly backing away from the main road, she absentmindedly watched the coaches rock wildly, every time the horses turned a corner. She started to move further through the woods, her feet aching. 

She slowly crept closer to the edge of the forest. A few houses were located around a large campfire and clean, or at least relatively clean, laundry was hung up on clotheslines. Glancing down at her tattered clothing she inched closer. Just something to wrap around herself. That way she would be able to stay warm at the night. She had stolen before, little things, like a cup of rice or a sack of vegetables to cook. To have dinner. One piece of clothing to protect her modesty wasn’t that bad was it?

A large scarf hung on one of the poles and she slowly unwound it from the pole and wrapped it around her. 

“Stop, stay where you are!” 

Chiharu looked back over her shoulder before she ran for it. A young man in a haori emerged from the bushes trying to catch her. She glanced around when she crossed the clearing, barely swooping past a woman carrying a child close to her chest.

“Stop her!” the man cried out, “Stop the thief!”

She jumped over a sack of rice and quickened her pace when she realised she was nearing the tree line. With a last burst of speed, she squealed when she almost collided with another woman, carrying a big jug. Water splashed onto the soil beneath their feet, along with a mug, scattering china with a hollow crash.

Chiharu hoped her pursuers would slip and fall on it like they did on television, but just as she was about to reach the forest, someone’s hand clasped around her ankle, sending her crashing onto the floor. 

“I’ve got her!” a new person cried, and Chiharu turned her head around and looked in the face of an old man. 

“Who is she?” another voice asked and Chiharu flinched, when the cool metal of steel pressed against her throat. Inhaling sharply her fingers fisted into the small strands of grass and she looked up at an armor-clad soldier.

“She must be a thief! I never saw her here before. And those clothes!” her first pursuer snarled. “Perhaps a Yūjo? Shinmachi is close by…”

Did they just think she was a courtesan? Chiharu felt her cheeks heat up. Admittedly her clothes were deemed as a provocation, but wasn’t she a bit young? Then again, she could have been a mother in this time. Chiharu slowly got to her feet, while the soldier pressed the blunt side of his spear under her chin.

“Pretty little thing.” He murmured. “Wouldn’t mind visiting you…”

“I’m not a courtesan.” She bit out, wrapping her arms around her chest.

“Than what are you, my child?” a new voice asked. 

He eyed her clothes with a lecherous smirk and she felt her cheeks heat up even more. The soldier stepped closer and Chiharu squinted her eyes at his bad sweaty smell. He fingered the hem of her school blouse and pushed it up enough to let his fingers trail over her abdomen.

“Don’t touch me!” she cried loudly, pink energy fizzling at her fingertips. She had no idea, how to control it, but she noticed the surprised looks on their faces.

“Reiki,” the monk whispered. “A Miko?”

‘…Reiki…?’

“You’re a Miko?” the second man asked, wearing a similar costume her grandfather always wore. Her grandfather was a kind man. She knew it was a bit of a leap to say every monk was kind, but she thought she had a better chance with someone who was supposed to be kind and fair. 

Miko, it was as good as any explanation and she nodded vigorously. “Yes, I was cleaning my clothes,” — upon seeing the same lecherous stare on the soldier’s face she glared —“Not these, these I found, I had to wear something.”

“You were robbed?” her first pursuer asked and she nodded slowly. 

“And you tried to rob us?” a female asked, her eyebrows furrowing. 

“Yes, well, your friend isn’t the first one who thought I traded pleasure for— anything actually, so I didn’t really see any other choice.” She told them, which wasn’t really all that much of a lie. “Thereby, I was just going to take a scarf so I could bath and wash my clothes. You’d get it back.”

“I’m Daiki,” the monk told her, “Your reiki is obviously untrained.”

“Yeah,” she muttered, wracking her brain for what she knew about Reiki and Mikos. Her Grandfather never shut up about it, so she should know something useful. “My Grandfather is a Priest,” she admitted softly, fidgeting slightly while plucking at her uniform shirt. “He was the only one who could teach me in my village, but he died when I was young.”

“And now—”

“I teach myself,” Chiharu explained. “It goes well enough, I suppose, but it’s still difficult if you don’t even know the basics.”

“Stand back, soldier.” The monk said drawing himself up to his full height. “We don’t harm those from holy blood. Especially not when they’re still so young.”

The soldier grumbled, but he did lower his weapon. Chiharu yanked her arm back with a grunt and heaved a huge sigh. 

“Miko or no Miko, she still has to answer for her crimes.” The soldier snapped. 

“She’ll have to answer to our Lord Nagashino.” 

“Doesn’t our Lord have better things to do, with Takeda Katsuyori’s army launching an attack on the castle than to deal with a young Miko who is in urgent need of training?”

“A crime is a crime…”

He grabbed her upper arm and dragged her away. She struggled, trying to dig her nails into his hand 

“Girl,” the soldier snapped, tightening his hold on her upper arm as he forced her along. 

He pushed her into a coach and just as another man stepped in next to her, the monk came to pushing a bundle of clothes into her hands. Chiharu smiled gratefully:

“Thank you!”

The soldier climbed into the coach-box and goaded the horses to move. The coach swayed and Chiharu clasped at her seat. She started to feel slightly nauseated. Obviously, you needed a strong stomach to ride one of these. She looked through the gap in the thick curtains and exhaled slowly. She couldn’t see much of her surroundings, and every time the coach swayed she tried to prevent her falling against the large men sitting next to her, eyeing her legs hungrily.

Chiharu was very much aware that going to a castle ‘to pay for her crimes’ was just a fraud. The way this man, who didn’t seem to be a guard if his embroiled clothing was any indication, eyed her legs left little to the imagination as to what he wanted to do. Slowly she started to panic. Whenever she looked out of the coach windows, nothing seemed all that familiar. And the closer they came to the castle the closer they came to whatever this man next to her had planned for her. Her fingers curled into the clothing the Monk had given her, she glanced out of the coach windows again. If she got the chance she left the coach and make a beeline for the forest edge. She closed her eyes and tried to remember what she knew about the castle of Nagashino, or more accurately the battle of Nagashino. She was rather sure it wouldn’t be the safest place to be around.

“We are nearing the castle.” The man informed her, his left hand nearing her exposed knee and Chiharu pressed herself against the door and felt her toes curl. 

“Great,” she mumbled.

He smiled his fingers ghosting over her upper-leg and Chiharu slapped his hand away. “I am not a prostitute,” she hissed and his smile fell away.

“Not an aruki Miko then?”

She felt her reiki surge. “My parents’ temples have never been troubled by bankruptcy, so no, I’m not to be associated with a prostitute. When I meet my father, and he finds out someone tried and succeeded to rob me, hell will break loose.”

She had no idea where all the lies came from, but just as the man pulled his hand back, she slammed the door open and jumped out of the couch. She ran hard and fast, thundering through the narrow paths in the forest. Thankfully the sun was going down, so she expected following her might be a lot harder now. In the distance, she heard several men yell and she quickened her pace. 

‘Men are pigs, no matter which time we are!’

She glanced over her shoulder, grinning when no one was following her. She might not have had any endurance when she’d been at home, but she’d built up a fortitude that lasted long. Thereby she had grown used to run through the woods and found it much easier to evade her enemies into under the covers of the leaves of the trees, than into a clearing. She veered of the narrow path and winced when thin branches welted her skin. Little twigs snapped under the thumping of her pounding feet and leaves got caught on her hair. 

She disappeared into the quickly dying light of the day and only when her calves started to burn and her knees started to jar, she slowed down. She had neared the edge of the forest and peered out over a large meadow. Breathing loudly, she peered down at the meadow. The soft light of the rising moon illuminated the billows of mist and the silhouetting of the canopy of threes below. 

“Thank God,” she whispered, slowly slumping down onto her knees. She carefully brushed her hands over her once-green skirt, which was now splattered thickly with mud and curled her legs under her. Biting down onto her lower-lip, she peered at the clothes the Monk had given her and she shrugged out of her blouse and skirt. The Miko garb was very alike her grandfather’s clothes and she smiled. 

At least this way she wouldn’t stand out as much. She breathed out softly, collecting dry twigs and broken branches to built a fire. This day had brought her at least one good thing; a cover story. And she would use that cover story to her benefit.

To be continued…


	3. The Sengoku Period

A slight breeze ruffled the leaves on the trees while the sun was barely up. Chiharu readjusted the knot on her obi, wriggling her toes in her sandals and blinked against the early sunlight. The bow — which she’d nicked — beat against her back and her hair was only bound together by a flimsy ribbon. 

She had nearly trekked all the way across the island of Japan. Had to get to food by hunting for it and she had been attacked by at least four demons on her way. She had never known what the buzzing feeling in her hands had meant before. She’d never understood she was a Miko. But she thanked whatever Kami responsible because it had more than once saved her life.The attacks, the attempts on her life, on her liver, or whatever it was they wanted from her body, had made her stronger. She was able to erect small shields and although it was difficult, she could empower her arrows taking down minor demons and distracting the larger ones long enough for her to run. 

Moving through the bushes, she stepped into a clearing. She frowned. She didn’t like clearings too much, as they made her an easy target. Clamping her hands around her bow, she exhaled sharply and pulled her map out of her pocket. She had never been too good at reading one, but after travelling the wrong way for a week, she started to understand how to plot her way. At least she expected to go the right way. 

She expected that the well, in their shrine at home in Tokyo, would transport her back to the modern time. If it could transport her to the sixteenth century Chiharu was almost sure, it could transport them back as well. She just had to find the small clearing with that same well, and she could go back home.   
The problem was; she should have been there by now. Blowing a dark lock of hair out of her face, she glanced around hoping there was something in the vicinity she could use to orientate herself.

Only so many were willing to help her. And those who did, only wanted to help her if there was something to gain. Men at this time were pigs!

“—My Lord, when we get to Edo—” a voice said, sharply cutting through the eerie silence of the woods.

Chiharu’s eyes widened; she couldn’t believe her luck. Whoever they were, they were travelling to Edo. Kicking the stone lodged between her feet and her sandal lose, she ran towards the sound of the voices. Emerging through the bushes she almost fell over the small demon who had been standing there.

He — or at least she thought he was male — was a toad demon, only two and a half feet tall, with large bulging eyes. Eyes which bulged even more when she almost ran him over. Rubbing her hands together she smiled as pleasantly as she could and subtle glanced around. He was alone.

“Edo?” she gasped, smiling as her reiki surged. “You’re going to Edo? Me too! But well, I’ve lost my way— again, could you point me where I should go.”

“Sesshōmaru-Sama has better things to do that to aid a Ningen, such as yourself.”

“Right,” Chiharu answered, raising an eyebrow. He was alone, yet she had heard him talking to someone before. Was he schizophrenic? “I only wish to know which direction, I will not bother you again after that.”

“Get lost!” he snarled and Chiharu felt a muscle in her cheek tense. Putting her hands on her hips, adopting one of her favourite poses in the repertoire — the one she always used with her younger brother — she glared down at the little toad-Yōkai.

“Now, listen here, there is no need to get rude with me, pointing me in the right direction would have been good enough.” She snapped and her reiki sparked against his hostile youki. It was weak enough for her Reiki to overpower it.

“Honestly what is it with the attitude here?” Chiharu muttered, glaring down at the little Yōkai, as he flailed his staff at her.

“Attitude?” he snapped and Chiharu was sure she’d never seen an uglier staff than the one he was using. “You’re the one with the attitude!”

“Oh, am I? Now—” she started, but she never got to finish her sentence as a dark sort of youki pressed onto her from all sides. He appeared suddenly before her. Tall and menacing, but also regal. His amber eyes regarded her cooly, while the small toad-Yōkai yelled at her. 

Chiharu wasn’t sure why she felt a surge of fear run through her, but it gripped at her heart with almost painful intensity. He was tall, had long silver hair, with looks that couldn’t compare. Chiharu didn’t think he was much older than nineteen years old, but as a demon, looks were deceiving. The man wore a simple haori with a hakama and wore the oddest armour she’d ever seen. A simple obi was wrapped around his waist and a fur pelt was draped over his right arm.

“Ha, now you’re silent!” the Toad-Yōkai yelled smugly and Chiharu glared at him. “Sesshōmaru-Sama, this Ningen has been terribly rude.”

“How do you put up with that?” she muttered and glanced back at the Yōkai standing stiffly before her. Something flickered in his amber eyes which she couldn’t name.

“This Sesshōmaru ignores it.” The man said softly, and she carefully inspecting the sharp maroon markings on his face. He had a curious crescent moon centred on his forehead and looked rather human. Chiharu was sure that if it wasn’t for the strange amber eyes with slit pupils, she would have mistaken him for a human (a strange cross-dressing one perhaps, but still a human). 

“I see, impressive.” She whispered softly, taking a few small steps back. His eyes lingered on hers. She knew why, so many others stared at them, she had grown used to it. Pushing her Reiki out, just as the monk in the fourth village had thought her, she frowned when she no longer felt his Youki. If he was capable to restrain his Youki — something of which she had no idea how to do — what else was he capable of.

“What do you want, Miko?”

“Uh,” she started, deciding, it might be wiser to stay respectful, “I’ve lost my way and I’m looking for Edo Si— Sesshōmaru-Sama.” 

He glanced at her with a bored expression. The Toad-Yōkai had finally shut up, and Chiharu fingered her bow with a nervous tremble to her fingers. Perhaps trying to find her way with the aid of her map was a better move on her part, than asking a Yōkai whose whole demeanour screamed of power. Straightening the already fading parchment she tried to figure out how far and more important which way she should go.

“You can read?”

The question took her by surprise and the only thing she could do was giving a nod. He glanced at her eyes again and dedicatedly sniffed the air. His demeanour changed suddenly, shoulders stiffening and eyes losing all emotion (which hadn’t been holding that much emotion, to begin with). She felt the strange aura as well and as the ground trembled, she slowly took a few steps back, away from the quickly nearing aura.

With an almighty howl, a large snake Yōkai emerged. The surface of the water in the pond nearby rippled, as a tree fell down and the snake hissed, before striking down at the silver-haired Yōkai. 

Pebbles skittered across stone as Sesshōmaru stepped out of the larger Yōkai’s reach. He seemed almost bored in doing so and Chiharu slowly slipped an arrow out of its holster. This was one of the large Yōkai to distract. It was large, ugly and quite possibly as bright as a wet candle. It surprised Chiharu how many of those got distracted from the pretty pink light and gave her enough time to run.

“What are you doing?” the imp asked, and Chiharu gave him an indecorous look. 

“What does it look like I’m doing?” she muttered, “I’m planning my escape! I haven’t fought all those obstacles to be killed by this— thing.” 

“Milord has no problem taking down a low Yōkai like that.” The imp stated proudly, and Chiharu raised an eyebrow. 

“I realise this means nothing to you, but I’m— delicate…” she whispered. “It might not mean much to your master, but I’m not a skilled fighter and I don’t want to die.”

The imp snorted as if the word delicate didn’t even start to describe what he thought of her lesser strength. She would have loved to say something hateful, but as the imp retreated to safer grounds, she watched in awe as Sesshōmaru lashed out at the lower Yōkai. The Yōkai screeched loudly and tried to claw at his left arm. Sesshōmaru snorted rudely before his fingertips tinged green and he sliced the lower Yōkai in half. It dissipated before hitting the ground and Chiharu felt her mouth slack open. 

‘Far stronger than I gave him credit for’ 

“Jaken,” Sesshōmaru said quietly, landing gracefully.

“Y-yes, milord?” the green imp whispered, bulbous yellow eyes peering at his master hopefully. Chiharu slowly pushed the arrow back, unsure of what she should do. Were congratulations in order? Should she clap her hands for him? 

“Point the girl the way.” He said simply and the little green Yōkai nodded frightfully. Chiharu couldn’t help but smile smugly as Jaken pointed his staff towards the East and muttered barely audible that she was almost there.

“Thank you!” she excitedly whispered, before starting down the direction given to her. After a few minutes she spotted thin wisps of smoke rising in the distance and she exhaled gratefully. “Please be Edo,” she whispered to herself, and she started to jog. As the path broadened, she noticed huts and a few larger houses clustered in the valley below, flanked by a large grid of rice paddies on one side and tall trees from the forest on the other side. Her smile broadened, but then she felt it. 

A prickle at the edges of her senses and she paused. After a moment she felt it again, but stronger this time. A tendril of Youki coursing through the forest and down the village and Chiharu slowly eased an arrow into her left hand. Slowly, stepping off the path and zigzagged between the trees, she jogged down the hill. The village huts grew larger and larger and as she passed a flock of chickens quaked loudly.

Tendrils of hair— hair?— were wrapped around the houses and Chiharu slowly backed further away when she noticed the youki emitting off it. Several dazed farmers were walking around and as she turned around and quickly ran away, wondering what the source of the hair was, a branch above her head snapped.

“Oi, watch it— woman!” a boy yelled, before slamming straight into her, falling to the forest floor, sending a cloud of dust up into the air.

“Jesus Christ,” Chiharu mumbled, “I just got hit by a truck…”

“For fuck’s sake another?”

“What?” she mumbled rubbing dust out of her right eye and glared at the boy who just bumped into her. He was a few inches taller, with long white hair and amber coloured eyes. Strange fluffy white ears sat on top of his head and suddenly his face was nearing hers. 

He sniffed her with a deep frown between his eyebrows and Chiharu bristled.

“Stop sniffing me!” she snapped, opening both her eyes and he openly stared at her eyes. 

“Well, at least, more than just your smell is different.” He muttered before, pulling her up to her feet. “I’m going to wring her neck, leaving me alone with that crazy slut and her stupid spell.”

“You mean the hair?” she asked, making a circular motion with her hands and smiled faintly when a transparent pink shield appeared. 

“Yes, I mean the hair, you can see it?”

“You mean you can’t?”

“No, I bloody well can’t,” he snapped, while tendrils of that same hair wrapped around his wrist.

“Stay still,” she ordered and he gave her an annoyed look. She hooked her arrow behind it and her reiki sparked. It looked like a spark lighting gunpowder.

“Did you see that?” she asked, and he nodded.

“Well,” He looked her up and down, “you’ll do just fine.” He muttered before scooping her up, throwing her unceremoniously over his shoulder and jumped into the air and onto a branch. 

She yelped when her head almost collided with the rough bark of a tree and slashed at tendrils of hair trying to wrap around her neck with her arrow. “What are you doing?” 

“I can’t see them, you can, so you’re going to help me!”

Automatically wrapping her arm around his neck, she glanced over his shoulder. She would have been much more willing to help if he’d at least given her the common courtesy to ask. A large lock of hair hung from one tree to the other, acting as a net. “Right in front of you, a large tendril.”

She yelped when he swerved around it, and jumped down onto the forest floor. A slight prickle of pain flashed through her cheek before something warm trickled down her chin.

“Damn.” The boy muttered, “Stupid fragility of you humans.”

He set her down onto the dirt again and shrugged his outer haori from his shoulders.

“What are you doing?”

“It’s made from the fur of Hinezumi, it’s stronger than most armour.” He told her and her eyes widened when he wrapped it around her.

“But, you don’t even know me.” She mumbled, as he moved her arms through the sleeves and was about to pick her up again.

“Listen, because I’ll only tell you once, I need to retrieve the Shikon-no-tama to become a full-fledged demon. I also need to deal with that bitch who controls the hair. You’re going to tell me where she is. I take it you can figure that out?”

“Uh, yeah, I suppose I could.” She nodded, wondering why she was going directly against her instincts of survival. Directly fighting demons was not her approach. She had been able to outrun them, whenever she managed to distract them. 

“I’m Chiharu,” she introduced herself as she allowed him to pull her on his back and he snorted. She raised an eyebrow and felt a smile twitch. He was like a kid. “Am I supposed to call you ‘dog-boy’?” 

“Inuyasha,” he muttered, before taking off again. She clung to his back as he evaded strings of hair and she tried to direct him as clear as possible. Using her thighs to balance herself, she drew her bow tight and released an arrow. It cut through the air with a low whistling sound and created a large opening through the hair still trying to get to them.

“There,” she gasped suddenly when they noticed a bonfire in the woods. The main strands, which seemed to be the ones controlling the rest, were coming together. Around it, half a dozen beheaded bodies were tangled in the hair. Chiharu felt a tingle of dread run through her. She doubted they had died well.

“Damn,” she whispered, and suddenly dozens of snaking hair tendrils shot at them. “They’re coming straight at us. Dead ahead!”

“Okay,” He nodded and leapt aside. A tree behind them exploded from the impact of the wave of hair and Chiharu tightened her hold on the boy. And suddenly a small tendril appeared out of nowhere and captured Inuyasha’s wrist. He was pulled up into the air and she wrapped both hands around his captured wrist. Reiki travelled up her arm and sizzled past her fingertips. 

He hissed, but the hair immediately disappeared. They both dropped down, skidding down a cliff. Chiharu hissed when the skin of her calf skid over the rocky ground and she came to a halt against a large boulder. 

“A Miko and a Hanyō…” a woman said, her voice sickeningly sweet. “How unusual!”

They looked up to see a woman with short cropped black hair. She cackled madly and raised a single hand over her head. The hair instantly shot up into the darkness, picking her up as well. A large ball hung in the middle and she hovered above it as some twisted marionette. 

“You’re Inuyasha, aren’t you?” she asked, but her question was rhetorical. 

Inuyasha snorted rudely. “And you’re Inverted-hair Yura… How do you know me?”

“You have gained quite a reputation among the Oni you know. Inuyasha… the Hanyō who acts as a lapdog for a reincarnated Miko… and we know you intend to collect the shards of the Shikon no Tama.” she told him dryly.

“Me? Serving that brainless girl?” Inuyasha gawked. “You’ve got to be kidding me.” His cheeks were quickly reddening and Chiharu raised an eyebrow. ‘The brainless girl who left him here to deal with the situation alone?’

Chiharu defensively crossed her arms over her chest and Yura the Oni peered down at them with a small smile. Inuyasha fingered the rosary around his neck and cracked his fingers. Chiharu didn’t see its significance, but Yura apparently did.

“I see,” Yura muttered, seeming to find them as interesting as a dead flea. “Well, both of you are brainless,” she told him matter-of-factly, before reaching a hand between her breast and retrieved a small charm pouch. “I’ll kill you both, just in case, and then I can collect these at my leisure.” She told them showing them a strange glowing shard.

“You’re going to kill me, are you?” the Hanyō whispered, anger radiating off his form. He used a large part of the hair that was curling around them to swing towards Yura, claws at the ready, but the Oni easily dodged the attack, raising her hands above her head and instantly shot up into the darkness above, pulled by the strands of hair.Almost instantly new tendrils snaked around Inuyasha, binding him once more with Yura falling in behind him with a wicked smile. She was toying with him, and Chiharu focused on the faint light coming from the Shikon-no-tama shard. Yura had put it back into the pouch between her breasts. If she could hit it, she would probably hit internal organs as well.

Spinning around on her hair she laughed hysterically and unsheathed her sword and slashed at Inuyasha’s chest. Blood welled up and soaked the white linen of the white kosode he wore under his haori. 

“Nice sword you got there,” he chuckled sarcastically, but it was obvious to Chiharu he was only putting up a front. She did no longer care where she shot her, as long as she hit her. Readying an arrow, she aimed, watching with morbid fascination as Yura licked her sword.

“Go to hell,” Chiharu whispered, pushing as much of her holy power into the arrow as she could. It hit her straight in the shoulder, the flesh sizzling. Wondering if destroying her ‘nest’ would do the trick, she notched another one. Yura the Oni seemed not at all bothered by the loss of her arm, but when the second arrow sliced through the air and found its mark in the giant hairball, sending a purifying light through it she screeched. With a loud howling sound innumerable skulls starting to spill out from the demon’s lair.

“My trophies!” she screeched “I really hate Mikos.” The short-haired woman hissed before throwing her sword at the young girl. Inuyasha hoisted her up in his arms again and jumped them out of the way. 

The Oni snorted, raising her hand again. Chiharu noticed a red comb clutched into her left hand and frowned, but couldn’t focus on it as a gigantic sphere of hair crashed into the ground before them. Inuyasha skidded down the cliff and pushed her behind a boulder. 

“Oi, Wench! Can you hit her again, or were those first tries just pure luck?” he snapped sceptical, pushing his claws into the fresh wounds of his chest. 

“After the last few weeks spending on the run and being attacked by humans and demons alike, yes, I know how to use a bow and arrow, all right…” she muttered angrily.

He nodded, before dodging the hair that tried to wrap around his ankles like vines again and she sighed. Chiharu carefully glanced down the cliff, to the forest edge bellow. Swallowing she notched another arrow on her bow and nodded to him. “Keep her distracted, I don’t think having her shooting things at me, will be very helpful.”

“Keh!” Inuyasha hissed, before jumping up towards Yura, who again effortlessly avoided him, but almost instantly the Hanyō cracked his fingers. “Take this bitch!”

“Hijin Ketsusou!” 

Blades of blood sliced through her and this time her left hand was separated from her body. Chiharu slowly inched around the other side of the boulder. Her eyes widened when she noticed the comb disappear into the nones below. Slowly, she inched closer, keeping her fingers stiffly curled around a red skull. It looked to be the centre of the hair and more importantly, a strange aura was emitted. Chiharu wheezed and trembled, before pressing her back against the hard stone. An icy wind picked her hair up and felt wonderfully against her heated flesh. Inuyasha swore when the arrow missed Yura — by meters — and arced over the intended skull.

“Shit!” she mumbled and went for another arrow when Yura howled in anger. Her face turned an unflattering shade of red and suddenly she appeared like an acrobat falling from the sky, to land skilfully on a narrow string of hair.

“You little brat!” she snarled and tendrils of hair snaking around her wrists, pulling her down face first into the dirt. “Just die, bitch!”

Yura swung her arm wide, sending a blaze of demonic fire along the strands of hair directly to where Chiharu laid on the dirt. Chiharu gasped and squirmed under the searing flames, clinging to the fire rat robe for dear life. She couching softly, wondering why the fire was not yet eating at her flesh, nor scalding it or harming her in any way. Chiharu’s brows knitted together and exhaled slowly when she did not burn at all.

Inuyasha’s screams were loud in her ears and she slowly sat up, panting breathlessly and she felt faint. Getting to her feet, she stumbled towards the sagging hair from the nest and with a cry of revenge, she let her notched arrow loose. It flew perfectly true, and it crushed the red-coloured skull with a sharp snap. Yura’s eyes widened in horror as the arrow flared a dark pink before the skull disintegrated under the arrow. The comb fizzled and cracked into a million pieces. 

Yura disappeared, her voice cracked as if it was breaking and she turned into dust, leaving only her dark fighting clothes and the yellow obi. They were both breathing heavily. The white-haired boy slightly wobbling on his feet and Chiharu carefully moved towards him.

“That bitch!” Inuyasha snapped, “No wonder I couldn’t hurt her, no matter how many times I cut her down! She transferred her soul into a fucking comb.”

“I never knew that was possible,” Chiharu muttered, “Are you all right?”

“It’s no big deal, we need the Shinkon-no-tama shards.” The boy mumbled and Chiharu shook her head, retrieving the pouch with the shards from Yura’s clothes.

“All of this for just a few shards, my goodness!” She whispered. Glancing at the strange glowing objects, she looked back at Inuyasha. His face was pale and her was breathing heavily. His eyes suddenly narrowed and he glared at the bushes behind her. A moment later she (also) heard the rustling of leaves and as she turned around a gasp penetrated the still air. 

“Chiharu?”

“Onee-chan?” Chiharu mumbled, twirling around and staring straight into the familiar face. “Oh my God, Onee-chan!” she cried, her eyes widening when she noticed the familiar figure of her big sister. The girls stared at each other for a moment, before Chiharu launched herself at her older sister. “Oh Kami! I missed you so much!”

“It’s been two weeks Chiharu, where have you been?” Kagome whispered, her voice muffled by Chiharu’s neck, her arms tightened around Chiharu’s middle. 

“Oi Wench!” an annoyed voice snarled, and Chiharu watched from the corners of her eyes as the silver-haired Hanyō jumped down a tree. “We don’t have time for some kind of reunion. We were looking for that crazy hair-obsessed bitch, and you just fucking left!” 

“What, why?”

“You don’t want to know,” Kagome whispered softly, gripping Chiharu’s hand and Chiharu nodded absentmindedly. Inuyasha wasn’t very civil with conversation. “I’m so glad you’re all right though. Mama and jii-chan are so worried.”

“You’ve been back?” 

“For fuck’s sake!” Inuyasha snapped, taking the two steps separating them, yanking Chiharu away from Kagome and winced. “You just left. You untrustworthy, two-faced, whiny bitch!”

“Inuyasha!”

Kagome’s face turned the most unflattering shade of red she’d ever seen on her older sister and her eyes narrowed. “Osuwari!” she snapped and Chiharu’s mouth fell open when the Hanyō crashed into the forest floor.

“Kagome!” Chiharu snapped, when Inuyasha slowly sat up, his hand grasping at the wound on his chest. “He’s hurt. I know he is rude. Very rude actually, but however you did that, it is not fair!”

Inuyasha hissed and glared at Kagome again, slowly getting to his feet. “You didn’t say she would look like Kikyō as well, either!” 

“I told you she is my twin sister…” Kagome returned angrily and Chiharu raised an eyebrow.

“Kikyō?”

“You don’t want to know that either,” Kagome said and Chiharu worried her lower lip, before pushing a reluctant Inuyasha down onto a log. 

“You should sit down.” She told him. “I know your healing speed is much faster than that of a regular human, but you got cut by a sword. Just sit, and don’t complain.” 

“Feh,”

“By the way,” Chiharu muttered, slipping out of the red haori, “Thank you for letting me borrow this. It saved my life.”

“Uh… You’re welcome…” he muttered embarrassedly and Chiharu felt slightly amused. He was just like a Junior High kid- He was like her baby-brother- Dealing with him, was going to be fun… 

“Where have you been all this time?” Kagome asked suddenly, crossing her arms in front of her chest and jutted out her jaw. 

“Lost, insulted and I became a thief with no morals, believe me, that is a part you don't want to know.”

“You stole these clothes?” her sister asked, looking downright horrified. 

“No, the clothes are practically the only thing I didn’t steal.” 

“I take it back, you’re nothing like Kikyō…” Inuyasha muttered and Kagome sighed. 

“Who is Kikyō?” Chiharu demanded, his outer Haori still draped over her arm. “And when have you been home?” 

“I’ve been home at least two times.” Her older sister answered. “When I realised you hadn’t come home either, I and Inuyasha tried looking for you.”

“I see?” 

“It didn’t go well.” Kagome shrugged. “There are so many who covet the Shikon-No-Tama, and well, I might have broken it…”

Inuyasha made a rude gesture behind her back and Chiharu nodded, her lips pulling into a smile. It started to rain and the three of them slowly started back to the village of Edo (Inuyasha muttered something about digging Lady Kaede up) and Kagome wanted to know Chiharu’s story before they went back to their own time. The fact that it was late, dark and probably difficult to navigate into the forest at that time was left unspoken.

To be continued...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How I love Inuyasha and his rude behaviour^^ Let me know what you think; leave a review!


	4. Between two brothers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ‘Even when I’m sick and depressed, I love life.’ — Arthur Rubenstein

“—So then I followed the direction he gave me and your boyfriend—” 

“For the umpteenth time, he is not my boyfriend.” Kagome Higurashi grounded out and Chiharu rolled her eyes theatrically. 

“Whatever,” she muttered, “anyway, that’s when Inuyasha jumped down from a tree and almost flattened me to the forest floor. Did you know he couldn’t see the hairs, in fact not those silly stones you have around your neck either?”

“They’re the shards of the Shikin-No-Tama,” Kagome told her importantly. “Kaede-baba says I’m the keeper and it is my duty to restore it to its normal size.”

Inuyasha groaned from the mat near the entrance of the hut. Being at least part-demon he regenerated and he did so really fast. Yet, being stabbed with a sword took some time to heal from. Kagome fiddled with her school-skirt and readjusted her knees on the wooden floorboard. 

“When I came here I ran into Inuyasha.” Kagome softly explained. “I soon learned you must have followed me. There was the Shibugarasu, inhabiting the form of a human. And I mean that literally, it had made a nest in the chest cavity where the heart should be. That’s when I accidentally broke the jewel.” 

“You told me that.” Chiharu nodded. “What happened after that? You’ve found at least a few jewel shards.”

“Yes,” she nodded. “I can sense them. So while trying to find you, Inuyasha is good at tracking people—”

“—Which would have gone a lot better if I actually knew who I was tracking,” the Hanyō muttered from his place on the mat, “but of course you did not know and—”

“All right,” Chiharu interrupted hastily, “so you tried to find me by literally tracking me down. And then you ran into more trouble. Yes, please continue.”

“All right, so then we travelled north. And then we met Nobunaga, he said he wasn’t Oda Nobunaga, but he was certainly just as much as the fool he was before the battle of Okehazama and—”

“Onee-chan you’re babbling.”

“Yes, well, we helped him save a prince and then there were this large fish Yōkai and the Bear Yōkai who held a Shikon-No-Tama shard. And then we came back, had a fight and when I came back — I went home you see — you were there.”

“Fuck’s sake, the wench couldn’t have summarised it before, could she?” Inuyasha complained loudly.

“That’s it you childish, little—”  
“Come on, not again!” Chiharu hissed. She wanted to go home, curl in her nice warm bed and forget everything about Shikon-No-Tama shards hunting and the weirdo’s who were after her. She wanted to hug her mother, smile at her silly grandfather and lock herself up at home for the next five days. She couldn’t of course. Her sister insisted on staying and helping her not-so-official-boyfriend hunt down silly shards. Inuyasha groaned and rolled on his side, ignoring Kagome’s ranting.

“Are you really all right, Inuyasha?”

“I’m fine wench like I said before, I heal fast.” Came Inuyasha gruffly reply.

Kagome’s face turned red and she pursed her lips together. Chiharu knew that look. She was trying to keep her temper under control (and quite often failed drastically at doing that). 

Pursing her lips Chiharu glanced outside at the unexpected rainfall that had halted her descend through the bone-eaters-well (and time). The fresh scent, of wet leaves and grass, wafted in through the entrance to the hut and Kaede-baba shifted in her sleep. After being attacked by one of Yura’s marionette’s, Inuyasha had buried her till her neck somewhere in the forest (to protect her) and it had taken its toll on her. 

Kaede-baba, or Lady Kaede was the elderly Miko of the village. She was of average height for a woman this time period, had long grey hair and wore an eyepatch over her right eye. To help her, Chiharu had stitched the wound just below her midriff and tried to get her to take some medicine Kagome carried into her large rucksack, but the old lady refused the latter.

“Kagome-Oneesama?” 

“Hm?”

“Perhaps we should all try to sleep,” Chiharu asked and her older sister nodded wistfully. With a large yawn, she unrolled the burrowed tatami mat and wrapped her arms tightly around her midriff for warmth before closing her eyes. Somewhere along the night, Inuyasha had covered her with his outer Haori again and she slept dreamlessly for several hours.

When she awoke again, groggy but essentially refreshed enough, she was alone in the hut. It was still dark outside and with a frown, Chiharu slung Inuyasha’s outer Haori around her and slowly stepped outside. The wind had turned and it was unusually dark outside. She gasped when she felt a hostile aura press against her and she tried to think what she was supposed to do and she slowly crossed the clearing.

Lady Kaede, still pale and tired, was directing the villagers inside of the wooden huts as the trees in the distance moved violently. 

“What’s going on?”

Lady Kaede turned around. “Yōkai attack it moved further into the woods, but yeh can’t take the risk. I would be wise to go inside.”

“No, I mean, where are Kagome-Oneechan and Inuyasha?”

“They went after it.”

Chiharu wondered when her sister had lost her mind. She must have if they went after every aura that dawned on them. There was no Shikon-No-Tama shard in the vicinity, except for the one dancing less than a mile away, and she knew that was the one around Kagome’s neck. As long as it wasn’t endangering people, you avoided aurae like the one over there. And then it was gone. Chiharu furrowed her eyebrows and blew a strand of hair out of her face. 

“I’ll get my bow and arrows.” She muttered. 

Lady Kaede didn’t say anything, just smiled and Chiharu was impressed. The woman had been hurt only hours ago, yet she was already on her feet and moving. Chiharu could learn a thing or two about that. Swinging her quiver with arrows over her shoulder and hung her bow over her other. 

The moon stood high on the zenith; pale light filtering in through the thick canopy of leaves, scattering down on the forest floor. She moved quickly, branches and leaves jostling as she ran through her. Her feet slammed hard onto the hard forest floor and she peered around. The dark aura was slowly coming closer, with every step she took.

She jumped over a fallen tree, almost tripping over her own feet when suddenly a small green kappa appeared in her sight.

“Jaken?” She hadn’t expected to ever see him again.

“You!” 

He hadn’t expected to ever see her again either. Chiharu adjusted Inuyasha’s Haori over her arm and cocked her head. “Yes, me. So good to see you again.” She retorted dryly.

“What are you doing here?”

“Investigating,” she answered simply.

“Well, do that somewhere else, milord and I have a business to attend to.” The imp snarled and Chiharu felt a muscle in her cheek pop.

“Yes, as I said, it was so nice to see you again, Jaken. Do take care, all right?” She retorted sarcastically while pushing through dark green bushes and nervously fiddled with the sleeves of her haori as she resumed following the dulled aura. It had suddenly become darker, the light of the moon disappearing and she nervously ran her fingers through her dark hair. In the distance, she could just make out dark shapes and she squinted her eyes. She had neared a clearing.

Kagome was laying on her side, near the chore of a small pond and a large bulky Yōkai, with the built and height of a flat, stuck out above the trees. Chiharu stood rooted to the spot, peering through the dappled gaps in the evergreen leaf cover of a bush. Almost all light had disappeared in an instant, and a strange silence pressed down onto them. Chiharu touched her hand to one ear, in case it was blocked by something physical. She suspected it had something to do with the strange heavy Youki that seemed the strongest here.

Shaking her head, she crossed the clearing, trying to remain in the shadows of the trees and her eyes widened when she watched a beautiful woman, with long sleek dark hair, literally trying to absorb the almost comatose Hanyō Inuyasha.

“Holy shit,” Chiharu mumbled before readying an arrow on her bow, squeezing one eye shut and aimed at the lady’s head — obviously a Yōkai of some sorts. 

The arrow fizzled, cutting through the air, before lodging deeply into the shoulder of the female Yōkai. Inuyasha fell to the forest floor with a groan. The silence pressing down onto her was lifted and weight on her chest, she hadn’t recognised before, had been lifted and allowed her to breathe the way that she used to. 

“What was that?” Chiharu gasped, quickly pulling her sister up into a sitting position. “Are you okay?”

 

Sesshōmaru watched his underling steer the boat over the water towards the Mu-onna. The idea to use a cursed spirit had been a welcome diversion for his idiot of a half-brother. The boy was stubborn, he could give him that, and would have refused to tell him anything he wanted to know. His lips curled into a sneer. 

‘A mother’s touch did wonders.’

As Jaken stepped out of the boat and onto the shore, reprimanding the Mu-onna for not doing her job, suddenly an arrow sliced through the air, brimming with holy power. It lodged deeply into the shoulder of the cursed spirit and she started to disintegrate, dropping Inuyasha to the forest floor. His eyes widened, gaze lingering for a moment on the fallen girl, still unable to move to the edge of the clearing. It hadn’t been her, but now another coming her way.

A Miko, small and slender moved quickly towards the inadequately dressed girl and slowly propped her up to a sitting position. 

His Youki flashed and Sesshōmaru grounded his jaws together in anger and suddenly appeared behind the girl pulling her up to her feet. She was small, barely even reaching average height for humans and two-coloured eyes suddenly were on his. He recognised her immediately. 

“You…”

“Let her go, you bastard!” Inuyasha snapped, pushing the fussing girl, who he realised shared a lot of psychical traits with the one he was holding up by her collar, aside and jumped to unsteady feet. 

Sesshōmaru jostled the human a bit, sniffing her delicately and sought his brother’s gaze out. “She belongs to you, I should have known.” 

“I don’t belong to him,” the girl muttered, feet trampling to the forest-floor, probably hoping to find even ground to stand on. 

“Don’t you?” He asked, his smirk broadening. It would be just like his brother to string two women along. He sneered. One human of Holy power, who as far as he deigned to listen, were quite boring and one who looked like a poorly paid courtesan. 

His brother suddenly charged at him, yet like always he was too slow and Sesshōmaru sidestepped him before taking to the air. The girl yelped, her grip on his wrist tightened. The other girl yelled to his brother and a moment later Inuyasha hopped onto a tree branch and went after him. With claws at the ready, Inuyasha clumsily charged at him and Sesshōmaru used the Hanyō’s momentum to plunge the fingers of his left hand into the socket of Inuyasha’s right eye before sending him back to the forest floor. The boy slammed to the ground, sending a plume of dry mud skywards and didn’t move for a moment.  
He glanced at the black pearl, coated in blood, between his thumb and index finger. Finally, he found the entrance to his father’s tomb. No wonder he hadn’t been able to find it. Inuyasha himself probably had no idea he had it with him all this time. 

The girl gasped, looking up at him with wide eyes and he wondered. She had served her use, dropping her would be easier than dragging her along, yet— His brother got up to his feet and growled at him. Perhaps she was of some use.

“Chich-ue certainly hid the tomb in a strange place,” he whispered as Inuyasha moaned, pressing his hand against the heavily bleeding eye.

“You bastard!” 

He made a move to come at him again, but Sesshōmaru wasn’t in the mood to entertain the foolish boy again and pressed his claws lightly against the girl’s neck. “Uh, uh,” he started, watching the younger boy’s eyes flash, “your female won’t like what I’ll do if you waste my time any further.”

“Inuyasha!”

“Keh,” Inuyasha snarled. “She isn't my female, I do not care if you would hurt her.” 

“Don't you?” The Yōkai-Lord whispered, making a show of sniffing at the girl. His scent was heavily clinging to her. “Than tell me, little brother, why is your stench all over her?” 

The girl stiffened when his breath fell onto her. She was staring at his brother’s heavily bleeding eye and looked disgusted, her face tinting green. Humans were so easy to read. He sometimes wondered if they truly did not realise how much power they allowed others to have over them, by such blatant emotions. She was afraid, at least she was smart enough to fear him, her heartbeat no longer regular and her scent heightened with the heavy emotion.

“Sesshōmaru-sama!” Jaken, the Kappa appeared out of the tall grass. “I have retrieved the Nintoujou,” he continued, showing the tall staff to his master. 

“Lose it again and I'll kill you.” 

He stepped forward, dropped the pearl to the forest floor and grabbed the staff out of Jaken’s claw. When the pearl was smashed under the staff there was a small moment of silence. Enough for him to wonder if this again was not the right location, but then the face of the old man cackled and Sesshōmaru felt a rare smile tug at his lips. The girl squirmed when a darkish light appeared, sucking them down through the grass. A wind sucking from a depth, he Sesshōmaru was unfamiliar with, they were suddenly falling. The girl squeaked, dull human nails digging into his wrist and with a sigh he readjusted her, wrapping an arm around her middle. 

It did little to ease her fast beating heart, but he didn’t care. He passed the large skeletal birds, moving along the semblance of a light blue sky, and landed in the large remains of his great father. Tetsusaiga was there. He dropped the girl and hurried to his legacy. Finally. 

“All of this, for that? For a Katana?” the girl asked, pressed against the other side of the carcass. Jaken’s bulbous eyes glared at the child and back at the sword. 

“That's not just a Katana,” Jaken told her importantly, waving his clawed finger importantly. “That is the sword forged from Sesshōmaru-sama's father's fang.” 

“I see,” 

Sesshōmaru grabbed the handle of the sword. He was repelled almost instantly. “A Kekkai, figures, there's a Kekkai on it.” 

The girl mumbled something, but he was no longer paying attention. The beginning of anger started flooding through his veins. 

“Sesshōmaru!” 

Inuyasha dropped down from one of the ribs, claws at the ready and Sesshōmaru smirked. Not Sesshōmaru and not Inuyasha was capable of drawing their Father’s fang and with that, Inuyasha stopped serving a purpose. They fought like they had done so many times, but this time Sesshōmaru truly aimed to maim. Inuyasha lacked speed, strategy and precision. He didn’t land a hit and Sesshōmaru easily overpowered him. He was about to finally dispose of the shame on the family tree that was his Hanyō brother when the scaredly dressed girl suddenly drew the Tetsusaiga.

His hand tensed above Inuyasha’s neck and the girl paled. The Miko girl was at her sister’s side the next moment and the girl hid behind her, pushing the sword into her unresisting hands. For the first time in years, he was unsure of how to proceed. 

Both girls ran when he appeared in front of them and Inuyasha fought even harder. He slammed Inuyasha into his father’s sternum before crashing him down against the floor. Sesshōmaru’s eyes flitted around the carcass, landing on the fidgeting Miko. She seemed to notice his gaze, adequately deducting he would come for the sword again and in a pure fit of panic, she slung it through the air — ‘Fetch boy!’ — before going the other way.

“Keh, it looks like a piece of junk.” 

“Who cares?” the girl yelled, knuckles turning white around the bow she was carrying. “Why not using it to get out of here?” 

She met his annoyed gaze and her face paled. It appeared that being afraid and having common sense was not in direct correlation with each other. Slowly, ever so slowly, she pulled an arrow free — her last one — and held it close to her bow. Would she really be stupid enough to shoot it at him?

The girl’s heartbeat picked up its pace, hammering against her ribcage and her breath hitched when he moved to her. She drew her bow tight and released the arrow. He didn’t even bother to dodge it, instead, he caught it in mid-air in his left hand and snapped it in two.

“Great idea!” the Miko gasped, hysterically wringing her hands together as she moved farther away from him. “He just caught the arrow in mid-air, thank you Kagome-neechan. Great idea!” 

Typically human nature. It was always someone else’s fault.

“Leave her alone!” Inuyasha yelled, moving faster than Sesshōmaru had expected and suddenly the boy’s claw crushed the armour covering Sesshōmaru's left shoulder. The sword remained useless. It just bounced off against Sesshōmaru's right arm, and the older Yōkai sneered.

“Tetsusaiga,” he whispered his right-hand curling into a fist. It should be his. It should be his because of his blood and of course, he was the eldest son. He was the Heir to all of his lands to rule. Inuyasha didn’t have to do a thing. “Give it to me, Inuyasha.” 

“Like hell, you bastard, you cannot even touch it!”

He grimaced, his eyes flitting to the girl again. His brother had moved a lot faster when he was about to approach her again. The Hanyō’s scent was all over her. He smirked, twisted around and appeared in front of her. The girl yelped, tried to turn away, heart thudding loudly, before holding her bow up as a shield. He had seen enough of that bow and with a careless flick of his wrist slapped it out of her hand, snapping it in two. She looked terrified when he twirled her around pressing her back against his front and dug his left hand into her hair, baring the column of her neck where it met her shoulder to his angry gaze. 

“Last chance, little brother.” 

“You wouldn’t!” Inuyasha hissed angrily. The look-a-like was gazing at the Hanyō with horror.

He wasn’t even realising he was bargaining with her life. The girl’s reiki desperately pressed against him. She was obviously new to it. It wasn’t even hostile against him. He doubted she was used to any level of hostility and she squirmed in his hold. It amused him more than it should when he exhaled, his breath ghosting over her neck, and she whimpered.

“Inuyasha-Sama!” Myoga the flea cried. The beginnings of doubt spread over the boy’s face, but he shook his head in determination. 

“He won’t,” he muttered under his breath. “She’s human.”

“This one wants the sword.” The Daiyōkai whispered, not caring if this waif of a girl was human or not. She would suffer from his brother’s mistakes. He always had a back-up plan. Even in the spur of the moment.

“Well, you can't get it, you bastard!” Inuyasha cried, again charging at his older brother. Sesshōmaru snorted took to the air again and landed onto one of the ribs. He chuckled when the Hanyō slammed into the carcass-filled floor. He slowly looked up into his eyes. Sesshōmaru could see it there. He was not going to give the sword up. 

“Your choice…” he muttered, before yanking at her hair, baring even more from her neck. The girl’s scream died in her throat as his fangs sank into the pale unyielding flesh of her throat. She trashed against his form, his left arm winding around her waist, keeping her from falling. Her breathing laboured and the hand on his wrist relaxed its grip. The Hanyō cursed foully, eyes wide and mouth opened in a horrified gasp.

When he dropped her, he smirked. “You will give me the Tetsusaiga, little brother, one way or the other.”

The girl twitched, feet trembling aimlessly as Youki washed over her. She would suffer. One of them was going to break. He just had to bide his time and in a flash, he was gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: And this is partly out of Sesshomaru's view. Hopeful it became a lot clearer this way. I hope you'd all enjoyed this chapter and like always, let me know what you think! Reviews are the fuel to my motor^^
> 
> Inuyasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi


	5. Lady Kaede

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Thank you so much for all of your lovely reviews. Like always they made me so extremely happy. Thank you to AnuBis25 who nicely pointed out that my spelling of Haori. It was indeed wrong, a bit silly of me. And I do indeed agree with the assessment that Sesshomaru is an arsehole. He was one at the beginning of either the manga and the series, and I'm not going to sugarcoat it. He hurts, kills and pushes whatever or whomever to get what he wants.
> 
> Chiharu's life doesn't mean a thing to him. At most, he finds her annoying. Anyway, enjoy this new chapter and leave a comment. Your thoughts and support are the best gasoline ever^^

Slowly, she opened her tired eyes to look around her. The dark haze slowly lifted from her vision and with that she became aware of a searing pain that engulfed her body. Every part ached and even breathing seemed to be a problem. 

His face seemed amused, and then he twisted around, appearing in front of her. Chiharu yelped, her heart thudded, her mouth sandpaper-dry and her mind a choppy sea of fears. Sesshōmaru slapped the bow out of her hand, snapping it in two as well. She was terrified when he twirled her around pressing her back against his front and dug his left hand into her hair, craning her neck painfully. “Last chance, little brother.”

“You wouldn’t!” Inuyasha hissed with certainty.

From somewhere close she noticed the sound of water dripping, splashing onto a wooden floorboard creating a strange hollow sound. Eyes burning with tears, she inhaled sharply, ignoring another wave of pain searing through her limbs. The scent of wet earth met her nostrils and she slowly turned her head to the right. 

“Your choice…” he muttered, before yanking at her hair, baring even more from her neck. Chiharu’s scream died in her throat as his fangs sank into the pale unyielding flesh of her throat. She trashed against his form, his left arm winding around her waist, keeping her from falling. Her breathing laboured and her eyes rolled back into her head. She heard someone scream and the Hanyō cursed foully.

Her neck started to feel numb and her heartbeat had ceased its rapid rhythm. If anything it started to slow down and Chiharu tried to keep her eyes open, even if it was just a little. She could faintly feel the steady beat of Sesshōmaru’s heart (if her head had been any clearer she would have been surprised he even had one).

“Stop!” she whispered weakly, only half aware that the air whisked past her. “P-please stop! You’re going to… kill me!” He disengaged his fangs and loosened his hand onto her hair.

“Careful child,” a woman whispered. Her voice was unfamiliar, but her face was not. 

“Kaede-sama?”

“Yes,” she whispered stroking her fingers gently through Chiharu’s hair. “It’s me. Do you remember what happened?”

Chiharu squinted her eyes in thought. She was with Kagome, following after her strange dog-demon friend. She didn’t really understand their relationship and then— the crease between her eyebrows deepened— then nothing.

“I don’t know.” She whispered softly, unsure what the loose fragments of her memory meant. “Did I get hit? Was there another attack?” 

“Yes,” Lady Kaede whispered. “But not on the village…”

Chiharu wetted her lips, before lifting her hand to her neck. Her memory failed her again when she tried to think about what had happened. Flashes of the silver-haired man she’d met, just before she ran into Inuyasha, didn’t make much sense. It was burning and it was annoying. A bandage was wrapped around it and she frowned. “What happened here?” she asked softly, starting to panic when she noticed someone’s feet crunching the leaves outside. “My ears.” She whimpered. 

“She’s not doing well,” another voice said, male, also outside.

“She’s awake?” 

“Yes,” the male voice said slowly, and the footsteps neared. 

The mat in front of the door moved away and Chiharu’s eyes widened when her sister entered the hut. 

“Kagome-neechan?” she mumbled before her older sister crouched down beside her and hugged Chiharu’s aching body to her chest. She couldn’t help the grimace as pain shot through her. 

“I’m sorry,” Kagome whispered before slowly laying her back. Chiharu smiled watery at her older sister and tried to sit up again. 

“You shouldn’t,” Kagome muttered. 

Lady Kaede pressed a hand to Chiharu’s forehead and shook her head. “Yeh burning up, my child.”

“You look horrible,” Inuyasha told her bluntly and Chiharu chuckled, completely ignoring Kagome’s annoyed look at the comment.

“Then I look the way I feel,” Chiharu told him and Kagome glared at her friend angrily. 

“Inuyasha…” she hissed threateningly and Inuyasha’s ears flattened against his skull.

“It’s fine, Nee-chan.” Chiharu whispered. “Please tell me you have acetaminophen!” 

“Oh, yes, I do.” She whispered. “We should go home…”

“No,”

“What?” Kagome whispered, her eyebrows knitting together. “What do you mean; ‘no’?”

“Mum will freak, and grandad will forbid us to return,” Chiharu whispered, easily understanding that what ever happened was bad. No worse than bad. Those grim faces did not bode well for her. Why else would they not just tell her what had happened? “Don’t deny it. He will. I’m not a doctor, but even I know that I’m doing far from good. What if the doctors can’t do anything?”

“But what if they can?” Kagome countered stubbornly, crossing her arms over her chest. 

Chiharu chuckled lowly, before shaking her head. “Can someone explain to me what happened? That makes deciding on our next step of action much easier.”

“What do you remember?” Kagome asked unscrewing a water-bottle and offered her the earlier requested painkillers. Chiharu pursed her lips against the taste but swiftly swallowed them down.

“What I remember,” she mused softly before batting the hands that tried to help her sit up away and leaned her back against the hard wooden wall. “We were filling you in about the fight with Yura, tending to Inuyasha's wound, when Sesshōmaru-Sama came…”

“He would love to hear you use his honorific.” Inuyasha hissed, stamping further into the hut and sitting down cross-legged, next to Kagome. Chiharu absentmindedly plucked her fingers at the gauge around her neck, unaware of the stares of sympathy she got.

“How did I get this?” she asked, reiki pressing against something intruding. Something from within, that shouldn’t be there. Her body shuddered and the hairs on her arms and legs stood on edge. Almost tearful Kagome clasped her hands together and looked at the Hanyō, who was uncharacteristically silent. 

“He— he came after you when he thought you were— erm— my female…” Inuyasha explained awkwardly. 

Chiharu never felt more stupid in her life. They all seemed to understand that sentence, while it made absolutely no sense to her. Sensing her complete lack of understanding, or simply correctly interpreting the clueless look on her face, Inuyasha pointed at his fangs. A heavy sense of understanding settled into her stomach.

“He bit me?”

“I’m sorry Chiharu… We… We didn’t know what we were supposed to do.” Kagome apologised as she made fists on her knees and bit her lower lip to keep from breaking down into tears. “You got some kind of seizure, so we brought you here… and—”

“Why?”

“Why we brought you here?” Inuyasha asked an imperious eyebrow raised, resembling his brother in an uncanny way.

“No, why did he bite me?” Chiharu stressed. “What— the consequences… What are the consequences of a Yōkai biting you? Obviously, there are consequences.”

“Biting on itself doesn’t have consequences, Chiharu-sama.” Myoga suddenly piped up. “It’s the Youki that has.”

“You-ki?” she whispered, straining in terror at the implications of the words. She wasn’t completely stupid. Youki was a dead opposite of her reiki. She couldn’t imagine it was going to mix well. It was probably why she felt like her body was being destroyed from the inside out. 

“She’s going to freak,” Kagome muttered matter-of-factly. “I mean it, she’s going to freak.”

“I know I would,” Inuyasha supplied not-so-helpfully.

“Child, you are lucky to be alive,” Kade spoke in a heavy sigh, her one good eye centred on Chiharu’s neck. “If your powers had been any more trained then the Youki would have immediately killed you from the inside out.” 

“Is that supposed to make me feel better?” Chiharu whispered, the level of panic spiking into her blood. 

“We need to get her body-heat down,” Kaede said, obviously used to deal with sick people and Chiharu was unceremoniously hoisted over Inuyasha’s shoulder. “If she gets sick on you like that, then yeh only have yehself to blame.” The older priestess warned and the Hanyō grumbled, pulling Chiharu snugly against his chest and stepped outside.

“Where are we going?”

“The river,” Kaede answered stiffly and Chiharu knew immediately how they were going to attempt to lower her body temperature. As long as they were not going to bleed her out like they did several places in the world in the sixteenth century than she wouldn’t mind.

Kagome trudged after them, her jaw jutted in that stubborn way of hers and her arms crossed over her chest. “I still think we should take her home.”

“You idiot!” Inuyasha snarled, his arms tightening around Chiharu’s limp body. “Even your grandfather would sense the hostile youki radiating from her. It wouldn’t end well.”

“But she needs her family!” Kagome said and Chiharu felt her heart constrict painfully. Did her sister really think she didn’t want to curl onto her mother’s lap and cry? “And it’s not like you helped.”

“I tried!” Inuyasha snapped back before sitting her down onto the riverbank. Chiharu absentmindedly stirred the water surface with her fingers. 

“I’m not going naked,” she suddenly told them, interrupting the arguing couple. She was too tired to focus on their pointless arguments and truly didn’t want to know how Inuyasha had tried to help her — after all, it hadn’t worked, so what difference did it make?

Kaede held her head, as Inuyasha (softly complaining to himself) lowered her into the water. Kagome rubbed her hands together and stared at her younger sibling.

“Kagome-neechan?”

“Yes?” she whispered, trying to smile reassuringly, but failing miserably.

“Can you get me my pyjama from home?” Chiharu asked, just needing an excuse to make her sister leave. She wanted to weep, but not when Kagome was around. The girl had the knack to blame herself for everything that went wrong. 

“Sure,” Kagome muttered, quickly getting to her feet. She seemed to be just as happy to leave as Chiharu was to see her go. As she watched her sister go, she started to shiver. The cold water prickling her skin. It was no longer pleasant.

“All right, can you get her out, Inuyasha?” Kaede asked.

Inuyasha nodded slowly, before hoisting her up on her feet. Chiharu moaned and trembled uncontrollably, just as she was pulled out of the water. Water which was so cold that her heart had nearly frozen. The boy tightened his hold on her and placed her on the shore. 

“All right, sweetheart,” Kaede whispered, sliding an arm around Chaharu’s back and lifted her. “Try and drink this.” She continued, pressing a cup with a green liquid into her hands.

“It hurt so much!” she whimpered, opening her eyes, which contained to her surprise and shame tears. They fell down her cheeks and she hiccuped pathetically. Kaede slid a hand under the back of Chiharu’s head to lift her into an upright position, rubbing her back comfortingly.

Chiharu’s breathing turned laboured and her soft hiccups turned into sobs, while hot tears ran down her face. Kaede made sympathetic sounds and put the drink down onto the forest-floor while mopping Chiharu’s face with a piece of linen. 

“It’s okay,” she cooed softly and Chiharu struggled to hold back more tears, pressing her lips together to choke the sobs down that still shook her chest and made her jaw quiver. “It’s all right to cry.”

“It hurts so much.” She mumbled and sniffled into the older woman’s collar. Chiharu felt Kaede gather her hair into her hands, rubbing it dry. Then, starting with the last few inches of her thick hair, she began to tease out the knots, brushing a comb through it with practised ease. Kaede hummed softly, before pulling it up in a thick, damp ponytail and tied it together with a ribbon. 

“Your hair reminds me a bit of that of my late sister’s.”

“Really?” she mumbled, not really caring. 

“She looks less like Kikyo than Kagome…” Inuyasha muttered, and Chiharu was unsure if she should have heard that. 

“Can you stand?” he asked suddenly and Chiharu blinked away the teardrops before nodding determinedly. 

“Yes,” she mumbled. He gave her a hand and pulled her to her feet. Chiharu swallowed the pained groan and the aching heat that travelled through her arms and legs made her fingers tingle. She had to bite down onto her cheek so hard she tasted blood, but she actually managed to walk herself back to the village. She didn’t doubt for a second she was going to die. The gloom expressions she saw on the others’ faces only confirmed that.

However, dying she did not.

Hours had turned into days and days turned into a week. Chiharu lived. She sat by the fire with a bottle of cold water. The wind blew in gusts against the windows and the flames threw strange shadows around the dimly lit room. Her body was still aching, but at least it was manageable now (she was getting used to it, the way you could get used to a stomach ache when you were distracted). Still, she wasn’t doing well by any means.  
A cat came into the room and wound itself around her feet, purring softly. Chiharu smiled slightly and slowly bent down to scratch it behind its fluffy ears. She slowly, silently lifted the cat up onto her lap and listened to the wind howl outside. 

She heard Kaede before she saw her. The old woman was carrying a pot of tea, the strong fragrance of turmeric tea met her before the woman even entered the hut. Chiharu grimaced, she didn’t like the poignant smell or the taste of it.

“I’m going to die, am I not?” she whispered softly, as the old Miko entered. She hadn’t been able to keep anything down and therefore had lost a lot of weight, making her look fragile and sickly. 

“Kagome-chan is getting medical supplies from your home.” The old woman evaded softly. That somehow made it worse. How everyone tried to placate her with empty promises. Kagome had brought several different kinds of medicines back. From acetaminophen to morphine (which you needed a prescription for, so how Kagome got that, she had no idea).

“Won’t do me any good,” Chiharu mumbled tiredly. She had refused to go home and almost had to threaten her sister from telling their mother and grandfather what had happened. Chiharu didn’t think they would let Kagome return to where she was needed if they understood their youngest (grand)daughter was dying. So as far as they were concerned she was still missing.

“How are they faring with the Shikon-no-tama?”

Kaede smiled before sitting down in front of her. “They found two more shards in the last two weeks.” She explained.

“That’s good.” She whispered. 

Chiharu exhaled softly, before glancing at her reflection in the mirror. Biting down onto her lower-lip she slowly pulled the collar of her Haori aside and glanced at the faded pink scar in the shape of the Daiyōkai’s teeth marks. It had healed quite nicely, although still somewhat red and angry, yet it was still sore and felt sensitive to the touch. The constant pain was somewhat manageable. The painkillers from her time made sure she could function but didn’t do anything for her appetite. 

She slumped back against the futon and curled her fingers. She wanted to take a walk outside. Lady Kaede pushed a dark lock of hair behind Chiharu’s ear and the old lady left the hut. Chiharu slowly scrambled to her feet. Her footing was steadier than it had been before and she gratefully walked outside. A strange burning sensation curled from the bandaged mark down her spine, as if something or someone was beckoning her. She ignored it. 

Chiharu carefully wound around the villagers. Most of them shot her worried glances. She ignored it. It felt good being outside. The initial reaction to wound a thick scarf around her face against the several scents and senses assaulting her had lessened. She still jumped when a football hit the ground or a bird chirped loudly or any other sound suddenly pierced the air, but at least she could give them a place. She understood what the sounds were, although the knowledge that half of the time she shouldn’t have been able to hear them, made her feel wary.  
Wisps of smoke were rising from one of the fires and she sniffed carefully, putting the dark smell away, categorising it in her mind. Sengoku period wasn’t a clean area. Although the sky was probably much less polluted, personal hygiene was at its lowest. She didn’t like the smell of mankind much.

“Kaede-Sama?” 

The old Miko turned slowly to her, eyebrows risen and head cocked to the side. “Chiharu-chan, how can I help you?”

“I was wondering, could you help me with my archery?” She asked slowly. “I know the basics, but I could really do with the help.”

“Of course,” She conceded and Chiharu smiled. The first real smile since she woke up in pain and spent the rest of the day accompanying the older woman doing her rounds through the village. She hadn’t lied when she’d told Miko Kaede about knowing the basics of the healing properties of several plants and she listened interestedly as the older woman explained about the abilities and properties of several berries, leaves and roots. 

When rounds were finished, Lady Kaede led the young girl out to a clearing. Chiharu closed her eyes. There was a waterfall nearby, pouring down into a strong river. They were far enough away from the villagers for the human stench to be lessened, but close enough she could still hear them busying about. She took the old worn bow offered to her and Lady Kaede smiled.

“This was my first bow when I reached adulthood.” She explained evenly, her one good eye glazing over as if remembering. “You know the basic stance?”

Chiharu nodded, traced her fingers over the strong and surprisingly smooth wood and carefully drew the string back and found it made drawing back easy. Years ago she’d once accompanied her grandfather to a Traditional Archery store and there she’d traced wooden patterns on a delicate historic bow. It felt somewhat the same. The older woman nodded approvingly before taking one arrow out of her quiver and showed it to her.

“There are many different arrows. The ones we use have an armour piercing bodkin. These work for Yōkai too. Many of us use an armguard, to protect the forearm from the string of the bow as it is released. Considering you’re age and skill level, I’d recommend it.”

Chiharu nodded, tapping her fingers against the leather protection strapped to her forearm. 

“When you notch an arrow you should feel the string.”

“What?”

“Draw the string back, notch the arrow on the nocking point, the leather strap in the middle of your string and keep the bow close to your body. Lean your thump against your cheek, yes just like that.” The older woman nodded. “My sister used to support the arrow, as well as give it direction, by pointing her index finger at the target.” 

Chiharu followed the directions. Aiming at one of the trees, she let the fingers of her right hand trace the turkey feathers and waited. Lady Kaede corrected the pose, pushing her elbow more in line with her arm and circled the young girl. “All right, exhale softly and release the arrow. Make sure to push your fingers out of the way of the bowstring, when you let it leave your fingers.”

She did. The arrow lodged itself in the tree, two meters above the intended target (a notch in the tree bark), but at least she didn’t miss the tree.

“Have you ever followed a course before?” Lady Kaede asked. “I know things are different from where you come from…”

“I did when I was younger. My grandfather took me to a special archery shop and that’s where I learned the basics. Everything else I know I learned through practice.”

“When you were on the run?”

“Yes,”

“It’s not bad. Does need some honing though. Yeh should do fine with some practice.”

Chiharu hoped so. She didn’t want to rely on lucky shots the rest of the time she would have to stay here. Ignoring the tingles going up to her arms, she notched another arrow. When the sun sunk below the horizon and darkness seeped over the land, Lady Kaede returned to the village. 

The day was humid and stifling. Her lips parted in a quick breath and she started down the path to the Bone Eaters Well. Chiharu lowered the bow and refastened the quiver on her shoulder and sighed. She was exhausted, tired and her body was hurting. She sat down on the lid of the well and watched down in the deep recesses quietly.  
It was sudden. The mark on her neck burned and her breath hitched. She grabbed at the lid of the well with one hand and her bow with the other. It tingled with the sudden, inexplicable urge to follow the pull it gave. A prickle traced down her spine and she gasped. Gripping at the bow until her knuckles turned white. Every muscle in her body suddenly screamed murder and she forced herself to walk on until she could slide back against the rough bark of a tree. Tendrils of youki extended outwards from her skin and she pressed her head between her quivering knees. She ignored the dark hostile tingle brushing against her, like a finger trailing down her spine and waited until it passed. She shut her eyes and shivered.

“Honestly, what do you want from me?” She whispered softly, blinking against the shameful burning of tears. 

Her hand carefully clasped around the prickling bite on her neck. If she only knew what it meant…

To be continued...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Although the problems Chiharu has and will have with the mark are important, I will speed through it a bit, because I do think it will get a bit boring. This chapter covers two or so weeks. Anyway, next chapter will be released next Thursday^^ Stay tuned.
> 
> I do have a bow. It was a present from my aunt and uncle many years back, yet I have no idea what qualities it might, or might not, have. Therefore the whole lot about archery is made up. I know some basics and that's it. Anyway, I tried^^
> 
> Let me know what you all think! I want
> 
> Inuyasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi


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